Stories to Tell: Prologue
by RayWritesThings
Summary: Laurel survives the stabbing, but the grave must still be filled. Black Canary and the rest of her team deal with the fallout. The Arrow writers claimed Laurel's story had "plateaued" as a reason to kill her in "Eleven-Fifty-Nine". This is the story they could have told. Major Character Death, Mentioned/Eventual Lauriver, Alternate Season 4 Ending, First Part of a Series


**I want to thank everyone over on the Lauriver discord for letting me talk their ears off about this idea (special shoutout to TheWhiteWolf for agreeing to help me structure future parts) and for reading through it before I posted. Again, if anyone would like to join us over there, PM me for the invite link.**

**This story came as a way for me to kind of plot out how I would have done the grave plotline from season 4 and possibly beyond. I say possibly because, while I have plans for how season 5 would go, I don't have any of it written yet so there's no real telling when it'll be posted. **

**The challenge for me here was to rewrite the end of season four while maintaining continuity with the flash forwards, working with some of those constraints the writers made for themselves to see if I could do something I liked better. At any rate, I hope you enjoy this end-of-season redo!**

**-RayWritesThings**

**Stories to Tell: Prologue**

She woke up. That was the easy part. Tired and sore, a little weak, but alive. She woke up.

Oliver was there just as he had been when she'd started to feel herself slip away. He had tears in his eyes.

Laurel tried to reach out a hand, but the best she could do was sort of turn her arm over palm-up. "Hey."

He smiled, just a stretch of the lips, and he echoed her with a soft, "Hey. How are you feeling?"

"Tired. I'm not out of the woods yet, I guess."

"Well, the doctors think that we're past the worst of it. You're stable."

His eyes were still sad. Something was wrong.

Laurel swallowed and tried to sit up, but couldn't. "Ollie, what happened?"

He hesitated. She wondered if he was thinking about what she had said, what she had finally confessed about her feelings. She hadn't meant for that to make him feel badly for her. She just didn't want to be holding onto any more lies between them.

Oliver finally spoke. "It's your father. He made it to the hospital when you started seizing, and he- he collapsed."

"What?" She remained lying where she was, but it was like the floor had somehow dropped out from under her anyway.

"They say he suffered a heart attack. The stress...he's still in surgery."

"But he's alive? Is he gonna make it?"

Oliver's mouth opened, yet no sound followed.

Laurel could feel her own heart speeding up, could hear it on the monitor. "_Please_—"

"Is she awake? What did you tell her?" Thea hurried into the room and took her hands. "Laurel, it's okay. It's gonna be okay."

"What about my dad? What have they said?" The stress, rushing to the hospital, hearing she was seizing — had she caused this?

"Oliver, the nurses are going to kick us out if Laurel doesn't calm down." Felicity's voice this time. She looked to Laurel, and her smile was strained. "I know this is hard."

"Where's the operating room?" She struggled to prop herself up on one elbow. "I have to see him!"

"No, no, Laurel, you gotta rest," John was murmuring. He and Thea were gently guiding her back down to the pillows. "We'll make sure you see him, but rest first."

Laurel's eyes squeezed shut, tears leaking from the corners. For all she had grown and trained, she was helpless to do anything but lie there.

"He'd want you to rest, Laurel. He'd want you to get better," Oliver said. No attempt to sugarcoat or misdirect; for once, he was utterly truthful and the effect was devastating. Whatever the surgeons were attempting, it wasn't going to work.

A nurse arrived who sent all her friends away before she added something to Laurel's IV that put her under again. Her fear and worry drifted away for an unknowable time. She woke up.

Her father didn't.

They wouldn't let her go home at first. Some of that was for her health, but a large part — she suspected — was that they were worried about her.

Thea stayed by her side when she was wheeled into a room to see his still form lying under a sheet. He didn't look peaceful or years younger. He just looked tired. Tired and sad and old. He was cold to the touch.

Laurel didn't feel the tears or the shaking until Thea bent over, gently wrapping around her and whispering words of comfort into her hair.

She didn't really process the words. She couldn't try to.

On the way back to her room a woman came running up. "Oh, Laurel, I'm so glad you're okay!"

It wasn't until the woman was hugging her that Laurel registered it was Donna Smoak. Her father's girlfriend. She felt her stomach drop again.

"I'm sorry," she said, muffled by the woman's coat.

"What?"

"I'm sorry. He shouldn't have- it was my fault—"

Thea shushed her. "No, Laurel, it wasn't. You know it wasn't."

Donna Smoak had leaned back and was staring at her in shock. "No, no, honey—"

"Mom!" Felicity's heels clacked as sharply as her voice as she dragged her mother away. "Not the time. _Not_ the time."

Back in her room, Oliver jumped up from his spot in the visitor's chair, tucking something small and rectangular into his pocket. "What happened?"

"Nothing," Laurel said automatically, raising a hand to hide her tears. "I'm fine. I'm fine."

But her father wasn't. And that was the problem.

Everyone piled into the van when they brought her home. They didn't have to, but Laurel didn't have the energy to tell them to get back to their own lives.

The apartment was clean top to bottom when Thea let them all in. There were new candles in the fireplace, and plenty of food in the kitchen. Oliver went straight there to start cooking a large dinner.

"So you guys have leftovers," he said in explanation.

Thea was prepping her room for sleep and putting the medications in the

Felicity was on the phone with Laurel's mom, with the funeral home, with everyone. She came to stand behind the couch and touched her shoulder. "No luck reaching Sara, yet. I'm sorry."

Something squirmed painfully in Laurel's gut. "That's okay. Thanks for trying."

John sat beside her, a silent presence, and for that perhaps she was most grateful.

"Where's Darhk?" She asked softly, not even turning her head towards her friend.

He was quiet a few moments more. "We don't know." And then, "Don't know where Andy is, either. But when I find him, Laurel, I swear—"

She took his hand. "It's okay."

"No, it isn't. But I'm gonna make it right. I promise you."

She leaned her head on John's shoulder and rested there until Oliver brought out her dinner.

"Thank you."

He looked up and met her eyes. "You don't have to thank me."

Oliver stayed long after Felicity and John both excused themselves to go home. First he had to wash all the dishes. Then he had to dry them. And of course he had to put them away.

"Ollie, it's getting late," Thea said quietly, standing in the archway to the kitchen.

"I know. You two can go to bed."

"We're not going to sleep while there's a guest in the apartment," Laurel said, her voice sounding stronger than she felt.

Oliver sighed and came out to stand in front of the couch.

"Is there anything else I can do?"

_Yes,_ Laurel wanted to say. _Please stay this time._ But she couldn't ask of him what he couldn't give. So she just quietly shook her head.

Oliver lingered a few moments more, touching her arm with a soft, "Goodnight", then he let himself out the front door.

Thea got her into bed and was there to help her move about the house the next two days. The third morning, she looked over her mug and said, "Alex, uh, wanted to meet up."

Alex. The boyfriend. Right.

Laurel nodded. "That's good."

"I don't have to go," Thea said quickly.

"No, you should. I'm okay getting around here, Thea. Really." And she was. The scar was still fresh, but it wasn't as sensitive as before. She could walk from room to room without feeling exhausted.

"I'll pick up a movie or something while I'm out, okay? Some ice cream?"

Laurel nodded. "Yeah, okay."

Thea reached across the table and took her hand. "We're gonna get you through this, okay? You know you're stronger than this."

"I know." And she did. And she was mad at herself, because she knew it and yet couldn't seem to get up from the couch or the table. Couldn't go outside or to her job. She'd lost so much already — but he'd always been there. Through everything. And now he wasn't.

Laurel spent the next morning alone on the couch, listlessly flipping through channels. Nothing was on.

A rap on her door had her looking up. A few moments later there came a second knock, stilted but softer. Laurel stood up.

She opened the door without checking — it wasn't as if the person behind it could hurt her any more than she already was — and blinked. "Nyssa."

Nyssa stepped through the door and into her front hall, her head hanging low. "I heard the news. I came to offer my condolences for your loss."

Her shoulders slumped, the grief asserting itself once more now that her shock at seeing her friend had ended, and Laurel reached out — she didn't care that this was never something they'd done — to hug Nyssa tightly. "Thank you."

It took a few seconds, but she felt the woman's arms slowly curve around the small of her back. They stayed like that for a time until Nyssa spoke. "I was unsure if you would welcome seeing me."

Laurel pulled back, a question on her lips, but Nyssa didn't leave her wondering.

"I destroyed the Pit. Without it, your father—"

"I understand why you destroyed it," Laurel said. "And there was no way any of us could have known this would happen."

Nyssa had been acting out of loyalty to Sara when she had done it; none of them had known if her sister could have been restored to herself. And there was no guarantee Constantine could have helped them out this time, either.

"I have to accept that he's gone."

"He was a...complicated man. Fathers tend to be, in my experience," Nyssa said. "But you and Sara both cared for him greatly, and I believe he did for you as well, as best he could."

Laurel nodded, her lip trembling. Her father hadn't been perfect — she had the emotional baggage to prove it — but he'd been hers. The only family she'd had to rely on, oftentimes. Nyssa perhaps understood that better than anyone.

"Thank you," she said again. Nyssa hovered there, unsure. "Did you, um…"

"What is it?"

"Thea and I are having a movie night. Ice cream. You could join us."

"I'm not sure what ice cream has to do with movies."

A shaky laugh left her, the first since she'd woken to the horrible news.

"It has everything to do with them. Come on, you can help me choose the movie."

Laurel dragged Nyssa over to sit on the couch with her, and it helped to lose herself in plot summaries and red box for a while.

It was a cloudy day when they gathered at the grave. No rain, but no sunshine. It fit.

Sara wasn't here. Laurel didn't know if that was better or worse. It wasn't fair that Sara wasn't here to lay their father to rest — but Laurel didn't think she could face her sister yet and tell her that this was all her fault. If she'd just been better, stronger, quicker than Darhk, their dad would still be here.

It was a plain casket that was lowered into the ground and covered with fresh dirt.

"He should have been decorated." All those years on the force, and it was a plain casket he was lying in. And for a testimony that hadn't done any good in the end. Laurel had stripped him of his final honors, too.

Her mother took her hand. "I know, honey."

The officiant spoke a few words, platitudes Laurel had heard at too many funerals.

"Now, I welcome any family or friends to step forward and say a few words about Quentin."

All at once, there were eyes on her. More than there had been, anyway.

Laurel took a couple steps forward after a slight nudge from her mother. "Um, thank you all for coming. This is...this kind of thing has never been easy for me. And I hoped I wouldn't have to do something like this again for a long, long time."

She took a breath and said, "My father was a good man, more in that he tried to be than that he naturally was. Um, that doesn't sound right, but what I mean is he always tried to do the right thing. He had beliefs, principles, and even though those things faced a lot of challenges over the years, at the heart of it he always wanted to do what was best for this city."

Laurel turned back to look at the grave and its name, the fresh dirt there and the flowers she and her mother had laid down. "He was a hero." Her throat started to close up, but she forced the words out. "He was _my_ hero."

There was a shoulder there for her when she turned back to face the crowd with tears staining her cheeks. She knew it was Oliver's without looking up at him, and she let him lead her back to her mother.

Everything else was a blur. The two of them got into a car together, and other people were leaving. Soon enough she was back at the apartment where she sat on the couch watching her mother dry her eyes where she thought she couldn't see. There was a knock on the door.

"That wouldn't be Thea, would it?" Her mother asked with a frown.

"She has a key," Laurel said, but her mother was already answering the door.

"Hello?"

"Hi, my name's Barry Allen. I was told this is Laurel's home? I'm sort of a friend."

Laurel got up before her mother had quite stammered through a reply. "Barry, hi."

He was wearing a black suit, and his eyes were sad. "I didn't make it to the burial before you left. I'm really sorry."

She shook her head. "That's okay."

"I know I only met him a couple times, but I'm sorry you lost him so suddenly. And I know what it's like to lose a parent, so," he shrugged. "I just want you to know that me and the others are here for you."

Laurel managed something like a smile. "Thank you, Barry. That means a lot." She stepped forward and hugged him, which he seemed surprised by, but he was the one who showed up for her dad's funeral.

"How's Ollie?" She asked in his ear. Laurel was certain he would have sought Oliver out before doing anything else.

"Not...great. I think he blames himself."

Laurel sighed. "He always does." They were alike that way.

She withdrew and looked back to check with her mother. "Would you like to stay for a bit?"

"That's okay, I didn't want to intrude. Just, you know, here to support. I'm very sorry to both of you for your loss." Barry backed away and turned around for the elevator. Laurel shut the door.

"Who was that, exactly?" Her mother asked.

"Um, just a friend from Central."

"Well, he must be a good friend to come all the way out here."

Laurel smiled, a private one. "Yeah, he is."

"Laurel, about Central…" her mother began. "I was wondering, since you have the time off — it might be good for you to get away from all this."

She didn't have time off, really. She was just stuck in the transition between jobs, not quite the ADA and not quite the DA. She wasn't sure she could ever be that, not under Ruve Darhk at any rate. Not now.

"I'm worried about you," her mother said, and something in Laurel stilled.

She'd waited so long to hear something like that from her mother. Something that spoke of a bond between them, a deep care. And it was only to be now that she'd lost that with her father. She could almost feel her mouth twist into the bitter snarl he used to get some nights, when the drinks were flowing.

Laurel pushed it down. She didn't want to remember him that way right now. She thought of him softer, instead, wide-eyed and hopeful that there was still some way their family could rebuild what had been broken.

"I'll think about it, mom."

She went to visit Oliver down in the bunker he was still living out of. A part of her felt she should do something about that. Another part said that she could barely do anything for herself right now.

"Mom's asked me to come back to Central with her, for a little bit."

He didn't look surprised. "Do you want to go?"

Laurel shrugged. "I can't do anything here since nobody's letting me go out in the field."

"Laurel, you're still healing. None of us could stand the idea of losing you out there."

She could point out all the times he had suited up when it wasn't exactly healthy, but Laurel didn't want a fight. What energy she did have for one was being saved exclusively for Damien Darhk.

"I don't know if I can leave while he's still out there, but I hate just sitting here."

Oliver didn't need her to specify who she meant. "I know."

"I just need some time."

He reached for her arm. "That's okay."

She looked up into his eyes, and they both stood, frozen there in that moment. There was so much they had said and so much they hadn't.

Eventually, Laurel looked down. She took her arm back.

"Okay then. Call me if you need me. Or if the others do."

"I will. And you can call us."

Part of her was ashamed. Oliver had already lost both of his parents, yet he continued on. Did he think she was being weak again? That she couldn't cut it out there in the field?

"I'm going to get better," she said, more for herself than anything.

He nodded. "I know you will. You always do." Oliver took a step closer, leaning forward slightly, then away. "I'm sorry...that you've needed to."

Her lips pressed tight in what she hoped was a smile. "That's just life."

Then she turned and left the base before she said or did anything else she might regret later.

Laurel packed that night and, though she turned her room over and inside out, she couldn't find the old photo. She didn't remember what had happened to it after the hospital.

The next time Laurel saw Barry, he had lost his speed. She hadn't even known that was a possibility.

Apparently Zoom, the evil speedster from another earth, had had something to do with it. But Team Flash had a plan to get it back, which they were preparing to enact on the day Laurel showed up to visit.

She'd just wanted to get out of the house for a little, not get in the way of her friends. "Should I come back a different day?"

"No, no," Caitlin assured her, hands flitting all around her like she thought Laurel might still be too delicate to touch. "We're happy to have you. You just might want to wait in the cortex when we run the experiment. I'd bring you to the Time Vault to wait with Wally and Jessie, but I really don't want to argue with Wally about him being in there again," Caitlin said. She hurried away to run some last minute checks.

Cisco stopped by on his way down with a new prototype of her device. "I started working on it after we heard the news," he said. "I wasn't really sure what else to do."

"Thank you." She fastened it around her neck, if only to see him smile.

Laurel was left alone, and she sat waiting and watching the various surveillance screens. There was a sudden charge to the air and a blue streak of lightning traveling from room to room. Laurel stood up.

At the same time, a door appeared in a wall on one of the screens, and two young people emerged. _Wally and Jessie._ Something was about to go wrong, Laurel could feel it in her bones.

She hurried out into the corridors, nearly falling when a tremor started shaking the building. Then another.

She rounded a corner and came upon the two of them. "Hey! Get back inside!"

Just as the yell left her, a wave of some kind of energy rushed over them, knocking them all to the ground and Laurel out cold.

She woke up to yelling and footsteps running up and down the hall.

"Her heart's beating but she's unresponsive."

"What happened to Barry?"

"Iris, _Iris,_ it's gonna be okay."

"Laurel?"

She sat up, pushing her hair back from her face and coughing when she drew in air. There was some kind of blockage in her throat, it felt like.

"You okay?" Cisco reaches a hand out to help steady her.

Laurel pressed a hand to her abdomen, felt nothing wrong, and nodded. "What—" she had to stop and clear her throat, and it still didn't sound quite right. "What happened?"

Cisco's expression fell. "It- the explosion didn't work. Barry, he- he's gone."

Her stomach threatened to roll over. Gone. Someone else was gone. Again.

"Jessie's heart stopped. Her dad got it restarted with compressions, but Caitlin...she doesn't think it's good." He started forward, his eyes widening. "Oh, here."

She tried not to flinch when his hands went to her neck, unfastening the device she'd been wearing. The light on the front was cracked and sputtering.

"Oh, Cisco, I didn't mean—"

"It's okay. This- I can fix this." There was so much that had just happened here that couldn't be fixed, and they both knew it. She took his hand and they both stood up, leaving the hallway.

There was a woman she'd never met sobbing in the cortex, a man who looked like her father holding her up in his arms. Laurel's heart twisted painfully.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered.

The woman looked up, her lips feebly twitching. "Thank you."

She went back to her mother's to get out of the way. She was so useless. Laurel tried Oliver's phone, feeling she could at least deliver the news, but she couldn't reach him. Thea was the same. Felicity was as well, which was the most surprising of all. What could be happening that no one was answering their phones?

John picked up on the third ring. "Laurel, everything okay?"

"I'm fine, but where is everyone?"

"Oliver got referred to some magic lady in Hub City by Constantine, so he and Felicity went to check it out. Thea's on a trip with her boyfriend."

"And you're watching the city alone?"

"I can handle it, Laurel. Don't worry about me."

But she did. And she couldn't shake the idea that something could now go horribly wrong with her home and her team, the same way it had here in Central.

She packed her bags and left that day.

The high-speed train brought her to Star that night amidst crisis. Darhk and his followers were in pursuit of an ARGUS transport with the whole Diggle family inside. Oliver and Felicity were still an hour out and no one could raise Thea.

"_Lyla says the transport is well-guarded, Laurel," _Oliver had commandeered Felicity's phone to say. _"Please wait for backup."_

"John, Lyla and Sara are sitting ducks in that truck, Ollie. And I'm not letting Darhk get away with anything else."

She didn't spare time to get into the suit; it hardly mattered when she and Darhk could already see each other plainly. Laurel grabbed the keys for her bike and went roaring down the street towards John's flashing GPS point.

The transport was already surrounded by HIVE, and she had to duck and weave as a few of the pursuers began firing on her approach. Her heart was pounding in her ears but Laurel felt nothing but calm. He was in her sights, and she would get him.

She saw John escape out the back of the truck with baby Sara, and she nearly veered off to help guard the two of them. But Darhk was staying on course. That was where she needed to be.

Laurel pressed herself almost flat over the controls as she pushed the bike to its limits. Darhk was climbing in the open back doors, and she saw the struggle between him and Lyla, saw him grab the ARGUS director's arm. His hand was raised for some kind of magic, and Lyla was frozen, her face a mask of outrage and fear.

Those same emotions rose to a crescendo within Laurel. She was two car lengths behind; she would never make it; he was going to get away with it all _again._

Her ragged breaths gave way to a scream, her eyes squeezed shut—

"_SCREEEEEEE!"_

The motorcycle shuddered as sound rolled forward and smashed into the back of the truck. It rocked, the wheels on one side skidding. There was a pop as the back one blew. The whole thing teetered terribly before tipping onto its right. The screech of metal as it continued to scrape across the road drowned out the noise coming from her, and Laurel drew in a sharp breath, the waves of sound cutting off.

In the ensuing silence, she didn't realize she'd stopped her own bike until the roar of a second one filled her ears. Oliver pulled up alongside her in full Green Arrow gear.

"What happened?"

"I…"

"Where's Darhk? Laurel?" He reached across to her arm, and she jolted back to herself.

"Lyla."

"What?"

Laurel threw the kickstand on and rushed forward on foot. "Lyla!"

One of the metal doors lay on the ground while the other hung shut. Heart in her throat, she climbed in, doing her best to avoid the furniture and items strewn about the cramped space.

"Lyla!"

A groan at the far end drew her closer, and to her relief Lyla raised her head. There was a cut oozing blood down the side of her face, and she held her arm at a funny angle. Laurel reached for her good arm and helped her shakily to stand.

"What the hell was that?"

"I don't know. Lyla, I'm so sorry—"

"Never mind me. Did we get him?"

Laurel froze. In all the chaos she hadn't seen or heard. Had he somehow, impossibly, managed to escape?

Footsteps announced Oliver's arrival. "The driver's alright. Mostly bruises and a possible concussion. John's on his way back with Sara. Where's Lyla?"

"Here," Lyla said. Laurel helped her limp to the opening where she could wait as the wail of an ambulance grew closer.

"Ollie, we haven't found Darhk," Laurel muttered.

He frowned. "His men took off. It's possible…"

They both turned and each took one side of the truck as they worked their way forward. She took out her phone to use as a flashlight in the darkened space. There was a table propped on its side she would have to get around.

And that was when she saw what the table was propped on. Or rather, _who._

"He's here!"

Darhk was either unconscious or feigning sleep, but when Laurel checked the pulse at his neck it was beating. His body was being crushed under the weight of the steel table, however, and she felt twin thrills of horror and vindictive pleasure.

"Ollie, help me."

Together, they were able to lift the table up and off of the man, who made no move to rise. It really wasn't an act.

"Does he have Rubicon?" Lyla called into the truck.

"What?"

"There was a code laid under the skin of my arm. He took it out. Does he still have it?"

Laurel and Oliver exchanged mildly disgusted looks at the imagery Lyla was painting for them, but that was ARGUS. They looked in both of Darhk's hands.

"No," Oliver answered. "But he needs medical care." He turned to Laurel. "And you can't be here."

She bristled. "Ollie—"

"You're in civilian clothes, Laurel. No one can see you were here, or they might think that whatever happened, it was premeditated."

He was right. She drew in a breath and looked down at Darhk. He was small and broken at her feet, no longer the threat that has loomed over her family the last several months, the threat that had consumed her father. She took a step back, then turned and ran to her bike.

She didn't stop driving until she could no longer hear the sirens of emergency vehicles, then kept on driving. She didn't stop until she reached the black fences surrounding the cemetery. Laurel went in on foot, her feet taking the familiar path to the family plot. She bypassed Sara's empty grave and stopped before the newer headstone.

"Dad, I- I don't know what happened — or how — but I did something. And it- it probably wasn't good. But it's over now. I hope...where you are, you can stop worrying about me now. And that you're happy." She crossed her arms over her chest, an attempt to hold it all in. "I miss you so much, Daddy."

Damien Darhk had been paralyzed from the neck down, the news said later.

Ruve stepped down the next day, citing personal obligations. Then she and Damien and their young daughter quietly disappeared in a medivac helicopter, according to the flight manifests Felicity had managed to pull. The city was in total uproar. No one seemed to know what to think.

"So you- you just screamed at it and the truck fell over?" John said not for the first time. He stood with his arms crossed as Felicity typed away at something or other on her computers. Oliver was pacing around somewhere behind Laurel, and she could feel the weight of his gaze each time he looked her way.

"Basically."

"But that shouldn't happen. I mean _how_ does that happen?"

"Maybe it wasn't Laurel. Maybe she only _thought _she saw sound waves coming out of her mouth and the truck just hit something on the road that popped the tire."

"Why would she have thought she saw sound waves though?" John asked.

Felicity shrugged. "Stress?"

"We're lucky there's no recoverable surveillance because of the identity issue, but it makes learning the truth more difficult," Oliver said. "Until we know for certain what happened, I'm worried about the team and how we operate in the field."

At least he wasn't verbally singling her out, even if they all knew she was the issue. Laurel was too tired to have it out with him if he had gotten too antagonistic at the moment, and it felt like the early days where there was no one in her corner.

"Where's Thea?"

There was a pause and then a shuffle as he stopped mid-pace before continuing. "What do you mean?"

"I mean she hasn't answered her calls for days, Oliver. There's no updates on her social media." Laurel turned to look at him. "If she were really on vacation, she'd have her phone."

His brow furrowed. "But...she _is_ on vacation."

"Alex did switch over to Ruve's campaign, Oliver," John pointed out. "Maybe he wasn't as good a guy as he seemed when you hired him."

She caught sight of the tremble in his fingers and the minute shake of his head. Laurel stood, grasping both of his hands.

"It might be nothing, but I don't think we can afford to wait for Thea to get back in touch with us." It wasn't a risk she wanted to take, not with one of the few people left who were so dear to her.

They went to the home Darhk had been living out of, finding it had been packed up in a hurry. There were papers scattered about a desk that would no doubt need to be looked over, blueprints of what looked like a giant biodome.

Most importantly, there was the secret entrance into the tunnels. She, Oliver and John descended, the reception on their comms crackling before dying out completely.

"Keep going?" John asked.

"Whatever this is, Darhk wanted it," Oliver determined. "We have to see this through."

They kept walking, and judging by the direction and the downward slope of the tunnel, they were headed beneath the bay.

"At least this explains why he attacked the cleanup event," Laurel muttered, the sound amplified in the cavernous space. "He must not have wanted anyone discovering his project."

The project, it turned out, was in fact a large dome, and when Oliver finished picking the lock on the side-door Darhk had built himself, they found something purely bizarre.

"It's a neighborhood," John breathed. "A neighborhood in a fishbowl."

Rows of houses with green lawns and perfectly trimmed hedges lined freshly paved streets. It was a perfect recreation of suburbia, minus the artificial sky.

"How do they get air down here?" She had to wonder.

"There's got to be a ventilation system. Something with hydraulics since it's under the water," Oliver said. "Back behind here."

There were people walking down the street in their direction, all dressed in the same uniform to produce an eerie effect of bland sameness. Laurel found herself thinking of dystopian novels from English lit; she'd read them all aloud in the hopes of helping Oliver pass while he'd spent the afternoons curled up on her bed like a lazy cat. That felt like eons ago now.

They were all gathering at the end of a cul de sac, where someone or something stood. She couldn't quite see over the heads of the growing crowd, but she could hear Oliver's growled, "Malcolm," and her own lip curled in disgust.

"Oliver, is that Thea behind him?" John asked. Laurel really wished she could see.

"Has to be. She's just...standing there." Oliver's frown clearly broadcast his confusion over his sister's actions. Laurel reached back for his hand.

"Come on. If we sneak around the side, we'll be able to hear better."

They crept along hedges and down narrow alleys between houses, Malcolm's smugly assured voice growing louder with each step.

"...saddened as all of you that Damien can no longer join us. But I know he would want our mission to continue. In fact, he entrusted that task to me. It has long been my own dream to build a new Star City."

Laurel tried not to roll her eyes as she peered around a newly planted evergreen, zeroing in on Thea who was standing just where John had said, passively listening. In fact, there was something almost glassy to her gaze.

"He's drugged her." She looked back at Oliver. "Again."

His mouth screwed up into a frown as he tried to come up with some response, but Laurel's eyes widened as she caught movement just behind them. She pushed Oliver aside as a gun was leveled at both her and John.

"Thought you all might pay a visit."

John turned slowly, his hands raised up. "Andy…"

John's brother smirked. "John. Nice of you to make things easier for me. Once you're dead, that wife and baby of yours will be easy pickings."

Her friend moved so fast Laurel thought Barry would've been proud if he were still here. The gun clattered to the ground as Andy was shoved up against the siding of one of the cookie cutter houses.

"You don't get to talk about them. You don't get that right anymore, Andy. Not after what you did!"

Andy shoved back and the two brothers were locked in a brawl, one which Laurel could not see how to intercede in.

Oliver had his bow raised, clearly preparing to fire once he had a clear shot of Andy. His eyes flicked back towards the meeting Malcolm was still running. "We're going to give away our position."

"So get Malcolm first, got it."

"Laurel—"

But she'd taken off around the back of the house, running straight for the podium. Her heart was pounding in her ears the closer she got. This was the man, even more so than Darhk, who had endeavored and continued to endeavor to take everything she cared about away for his own selfish goals. She was done holding back against him.

Malcolm turned before she was five feet away, ready to block her fist with his hand. They traded a number of blows, Laurel's anger rising up, up and up within her.

He sighed. "Haven't we been over this enough times by now? You can't hope to win against me."

"You've been beaten before, you can be beaten again. How's your hand?"

He scowled, but Laurel was more concerned with the arrow that sailed past her head.

"Thea!"

Her friend was already nocking a second one as the crowd of Darhk's followers screamed and scattered for the exits. Thea's eyes and face were devoid of any warmth. "Stand down."

"Thea, he's using you! Just like before, you have to fight it!" She couldn't blame her for listening to the drugs, but she knew how strong Thea was. If anyone could break through it, she could.

And there was a flicker of hesitation in her friend's eyes.

"Thea?" It was Oliver who asked as he'd apparently chosen to follow her. His arrival caused Thea to tense up and release the second arrow in his direction. Then a second set of siblings were fighting in this underground base.

"I would have stopped him," said Malcolm.

Laurel's head whipped back around towards him. "Excuse me?"

"Damien. I would have stopped him at the prison if I'd been closer. I didn't realize what he was planning to do until it was too late."

Her first instinct was to call him a liar. But she remembered how tense he'd been, how he'd kept suggesting to Darhk that they leave immediately. A part of her wanted to demand _why._

But she shook her head. "It was too late. And it is too late for you, Malcolm. No more playing both sides to your advantage. No more waiting to see how you can come out the winner. This is going to end here one way or the other."

"If it has to be that way," he replied with something like regret. Laurel scowled and shook it off. Whatever weird complex he was working through wasn't her problem. She just wanted to see him ended.

Laurel charged and he dodged before engaging. As good as she'd continued to get since their last fight, Malcolm still had considerable skill. But she was gratified to see the gap was definitely shrinking. It could make all the difference.

She hadn't killed Darhk, was still even uncomfortable thinking about her role in his current state of health. But Malcolm? She thought she really could.

For her father. For Sara. For Thea. For Tommy and Moira Queen, innocent William Clayton. The unnamed and forgotten crew members of the _Queen's Gambit_ and Robert along with them. For every last person who had lost their lives that terrible night in the Glades.

She would do it for Oliver, too, so he wouldn't have to compromise the morals he worked so hard to maintain. So he could keep trying to find that light within himself.

Malcolm was getting frustrated, and Laurel's teeth bared in a strange sort of satisfaction. She wanted him forced out of that smug calm he always projected. She wanted him fighting back like he meant it. Which he did.

She had little thought for anything else other than staying on top of the next attack, using everything she had. He got in a hit to her gut that caused her to stagger back, her legs caught up in a bush. Laurel couldn't keep her balance and fell hard onto her back, stunned.

"Malcolm, stop!" Oliver's voice somewhere nearby. Two arrows, red and green, sailed above her, but didn't stop the knife that was hurtling towards her.

Laurel's mouth opened, her breath coming in a sharp gasp and, like instinct—

"_SCREEEEEEEE!"_

The scream left her in one concussive blast, knocking the knife high into the air until it was so small she couldn't make out where it had gone. The very walls of the artificial suburb trembled before a loud _crack_ rent the air.

Everything went black and shrieks of panic filled the space, some closer than others. A rumbling noise had started up, and she sat up just in time as something heavy crashed down near where she was laying.

"What just happened? What's going on?" Thea cried out.

"The structure was damaged. This whole thing's coming down. Laurel!"

She staggered to her feet, reaching blindly for Oliver. Hands caught hers, but she couldn't tell if it was him or Malcolm.

"We have to get John! The people! How- how are we—"

In the dark, there was suddenly a streak of yellow, bright and crackling like electricity. Laurel was caught up in a blur of motion before her feet slammed back into the ground above ground. She looked around and saw Oliver, Thea and countless people in the strange outfits they'd been wearing in Darhk's neighborhood, all of them just as confused as she was. John appeared moments later, gun in his hands and tense.

"What the hell just—"

"Oh my God!" Thea gasped, pointing. They all turned to look and watch as the ground far ahead of them caved in, the pavement cracking and buckling. Buildings twisted and fell in on themselves. It was exactly like out of her memories, and Laurel's hands went to grasp the sides of her face.

"Oh God."

The yellow streak passed up and down the crumbling structures, people appearing in their group with no warning each time it raced by. It took Laurel's brain several seconds to catch up and realize _who_ that streak was.

Barry skidded to a stop in front of them in full Flash gear, amazingly, impossibly alive. "Is everyone alright?"

There were murmurs of assent, some less enthusiastic than others. Most of Darhk's willing followers looked dismayed to return to the surface, while others who had been pulled from the falling buildings seemed the most confused of all.

"What happened to all our stuff?"

"—another earthquake?"

"That guy from Central City, the fast one—"

"How did you know to be here?" Oliver asked Barry.

"Your, uh, teammate called when she couldn't reach you guys. I've been searching the whole city, but it wasn't until I saw that sinkhole opening up that I knew where you were. How exactly did that happen?"

The others looked at each other, either unsure or unwilling to say. But as Laurel stared at the devastation done to the part of the Glades that reached out to the bay — so similar to all those years ago — she couldn't leave it unsaid.

"It was me."

There were no casualties, thanks to the Flash. His powers, newly returned as they were, were truly a gift. Not like hers seemed to be.

"It must have been the second explosion," Barry said quietly in the bunker later that night. "The particles must have pervaded the lab, and Laurel's probably pre-disposes towards the meta gene. We just met her Earth-2 doppelganger."

Barry told them all about Black Siren, her mocking voice and the destruction that came in her wake. 600 miles away, a woman sat in a cell wearing her face.

"Is she being sent back?" Laurel asked.

"We're going to work on that once we know for certain we can defeat Zoom. We only just turned back his army. Actually, the others are waiting for me to have a sort of victory dinner. Is it okay…?"

"Yeah, Barry," Oliver said. "We've taken enough of your time."

"Okay. I promise we'll talk more about the meta thing," the speedster said to her. "It's gonna be fine." Then in a blink, he was gone.

"It really wasn't your fault, Laurel," Thea said in the ensuing silence.

"Tell that to the families that lost their homes."

"Look, as terrible as it is, that whole setup Darhk has couldn't stay down there," John added. "Even if we'd cleared it out, there would've been danger of it collapsing on its own if something in the engine room failed. Darhk built it too close to the surface."

"Probably so that it would rise from the ashes after he launched his nuclear armada," Felicity added. "I know this is tough, but you never meant to do anything like that. It was an accident."

She stood, half-turned from them all with her arms folded over her chest. "That's the problem. These powers, I can't control them. And as long as I can't, stuff like this is going to keep happening." She drew in a breath, preparing herself to say it for the second time in as many months. "I have to leave the team."

A look of absolute panic flashed across Oliver's face. "Laurel—"

"And not to be a DA. I can't trust myself to be around people or- or civilization with this," she continued, waving a hand at her neck. "Not until I'm the one in control."

"But where will you go?" Thea asked, and her lips trembled.

"I don't know."

"Laurel, please, Barry and his team can help you."

"My doppleganger already took down plenty of their buildings, Oliver. They can't really afford to lose more." She turned fully towards him. "Please, don't make this harder for me. I've never — just let me go."

He fell silent, gaze lowered to the ground.

"This is hard for all of us, Laurel," said Felicity. "I mean, we just lost your father and now — sorry, I didn't mean to bring that up."

"No. It's fine." Laurel did her best to hold back the sting of new tears. God, what she wouldn't give to have her father here now. What would he do, what advice would he give her?

"Before he...died, dad told me he was proud of what I was doing for the city. To him, Star was more than home. It was family itself." She looked at her suit on its mannequin. "To honor his memory, I have to protect this city from any danger. Including me."

"You're not the only one who needs to take some time off." It was John who spoke, and she looked back over her shoulder just as the others stared at him. "Andy got away in all the confusion. I have to track him down before he can come back and hurt Lyla or Sara. Won't be able to rest easy until I do."

Laurel nodded and ignored a second stab of guilt. If she hadn't reacted with her powers down there, Andy wouldn't have gotten away. Neither would Malcolm. She'd ruined so much.

"If there's anything we can do," Oliver began.

"You have enough to take care of here," said Laurel. John agreed with a nod.

"Well, so much for celebrating Thea being rescued," Felicity muttered glumly.

Laurel looked down. Glad as she was that her friend was safe, she wasn't really good for celebrations right now.

"I think the best way to celebrate is if we all take the night off," Oliver decided, and she was so grateful to him in that moment for letting her get out of that room. The longer she stayed, the more she felt an awkward outsider, scared to raise her voice above a quiet murmur.

Laurel could feel his eyes on her and thought he might know it, too.

She packed everything she would need in a large backpack normally used by those traveling across Europe. Maybe she would end up there, maybe she wouldn't.

It hadn't been hard to resign from the DA's office. She'd technically been on medical leave and then bereavement leave after that anyway before she needed to decide if she was taking the DA job, so it was just a matter of telling them she would not be back. Not for a long time, if ever.

Thea helped her check she had everything one last time. "You're sure?" Her friend asked not for the first time.

"I am. I'm sorry," Laurel added. "I wouldn't leave you behind if I didn't have to, but I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt, Speedy."

Thea nodded. "I know, I just — I wish everyone didn't have to go."

"It's just me and John."

"Yeah, but." Thea paused and let out a shaky breath. "I think I'm gonna take some time off the team, too."

Laurel's mouth fell open.

"You feel like you're a liability because of your powers. I'm a liability because of my dad. He got away, just like Andy. He got away with drugging me again."

She reached for her friend's shoulders. "Thea, that wasn't—"

"My fault? I know. But I have to figure out if this is something I'm okay with happening over and over before I put that mask back on. Besides." Thea shrugged. "It's not gonna be the same without my teammates."

Laurel felt herself smile. "I guess it won't be."

"I'll still be here. Keeping the apartment warm, backup if Ollie gets in over his head, you know," Thea continued in a valiant effort to maintain a casual air.

"Good. You two look out for each other while I'm gone."

Thea's smile crumpled a little. "We're gonna miss you so much."

Laurel pulled her into a hug. "I know. So am I."

Thea pulled back and wiped at her eyes. "One more thing." She went into her room and came back with Laurel's suit in her hands. "You never know, wherever you end up they might need the Black Canary."

Laurel took hold of the jacket, her eyes closing. "Thank you, Thea."

She got a rideshare to the cemetery to visit with her father. It would be the last time in a while, so she laid a fresh batch of flowers down in front of the headstone.

"I wish none of this had happened. If I'd done something differently or not been at that prison, maybe things would be better for everyone. Maybe you'd still be here." She brushed her fingers over his name, letting the silence speak for itself for a time.

"I still haven't heard from Sara. I'm not sure how it works, with her not being in this time. Maybe the message got lost or she...she doesn't want to see me. Maybe she doesn't want to believe you're gone." It was a tempting idea, one that she would find hard to resist if she were in that position. Or maybe that was the guilt talking. "I'm sure she'll come here someday. She'd want to come see you."

Laurel rose to her feet.

"I'm not sure when I'll be back, but you'll always be with me, Daddy. I love you so much. I'll keep trying to make you proud."

Drawing in a deep breath, Laurel turned and left the cemetery. She called a second rideshare, this time for the airport. It dropped her off at the queue for departing flights, and Laurel walked down the line to find her airline.

"Hey!"

Laurel turned at the sound of the familiar voice. She should've realized. "Hey. What are you doing here?"

Oliver jogged up to her. "I just, um, wanted to see you off."

Laurel nodded. "Well, I guess you have."

He looked down. "Yeah."

She took in his appearance then, his nice slacks and a tie. He hadn't worn anything like it since he'd withdrawn his candidacy. "You heading to an interview after this?"

He huffed a laugh. "Kind of. Uh, since Ruve sort of left out of nowhere, the city's asked if I can step in. For the interim, anyway."

A real smile for her was rare of late, but one rose on her face now. "Congratulations. It should've been yours from the start."

"Thank you. First order of business will be picking a DA," he told her. "It'll be a tough spot to fill considering my first choice is leaving the country."

Laurel shook her head. "You'll be fine without me, Ollie."

"I'm not sure I will be," he admitted in a moment of vulnerability. "Sorry. I wasn't trying — you were right, you've never tried to stop me. I know you need this."

She licked her bottom lip. "I think we both do."

It was still hanging in the air between them, what she'd said in the hospital. Laurel didn't know if either of them would ever truly address it again, if they could even survive it if they did.

"Actually," said Oliver. He fished around for something in a pocket. Laurel's heart skipped a beat as she saw the back of a photo.

"Ollie—"

"I thought you might want something to hang onto, to remember the family you've got waiting back home." He held it out to her.

It had been taken by Alex at a campaign event, Laurel remembered. One of the last ones, because Felicity was in her wheelchair. John has his hands resting on the handlebars, the easy trust and comfort between the two friends obvious.

She remembered, too, how Alex had been trying to rearrange the lineup, his face scrunching up each time he'd looked at her.

"Laurel, if you could go on Thea's other side, that way we get Oliver in the center—"

Oliver had wound an arm over her shoulders, his other arm around Thea's waist, the same way they were in the photo. "It's a photo, Alex, not a production. Just take it."

"Fine, you're the boss."

He was dead now, Laurel dimly recalled. Thea had told her the night they'd returned to the apartment. Machin had snuck into Darhk's secret neighborhood and killed the campaign aide in his obsession with Thea. He was the only one they'd managed to recapture and put behind bars, a poor consolation for the loss of her friend's boyfriend.

But the team in the photo didn't know that. They smiled, happy and oblivious to everything that was to come. The elbow of her father's suit jacket was jutting into the frame on the right, just out of shot with Donna. How much simpler things looked in hindsight.

She looked back up. "I'll keep it with me." She tucked it into the pocket of her jacket. "Good luck with the mayorship. You'll do a great job."

"Thanks. Good luck to you, too. I hope you find what you're looking for." He hesitated then stepped towards her, leaning towards her side, and she felt his lips on her cheek. Laurel sucked in a breath and ducked her head as he pulled back just a few centimeters.

"Be safe out there."

"I will. Goodbye, Ollie."

There was something so pained in his gaze, and for a moment she thought he might speak. But he stepped back instead, forcing a tight smile.

She returned it before heading through the automatic doors of the airport. Laurel raised a hand to her cheek, then wiped at the corners of her eyes. She'd only cause a stir at the security check in if she turned up looking like a mess. Everything was always a mess when it came to her and Ollie.

The tightness in her chest lessened once she arrived at her gate, and she was breathing easier by the time they were seated on the plane. Laurel lifted the window shade in order to get her last glimpse of Star before takeoff. Her last glimpse of home and the people she loved.

This city had always been her refuge, her constant in all the changes and upheaval. In some ways it was her cage, too. But it was time to fly.


End file.
